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How can I use and maintain my 32-bit VST plug-ins with the 64-bit version of Live using jBridgeM on a Mac?

Live Versions:
8.4 - 9

Operating System:
OSX

In the 64-bit version of Live, you can use 64-bit plug-ins natively. 32-bit plug-ins cannot be used directly in the 64-bit version, but third-party tools such as jBridgeM allow them to be used within the 64-bit version.

An overview of using Live with plug-ins

Most likely, you'll have VST plug-ins installed that either support 32-bit only, 64-bit only or both. These plug-ins are usually installed into one of the following folders:

/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/

/Users/[your_user_name]/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/

If you have "Use VST Plug-In System Folders" enabled in your 64-bit version of Live (Preferences > File/Folder tab), Live will keep track of any VST plug-ins that have been installed into the two folders listed above, and will already show all 64-bit VST plug-ins in the Plug-Ins Categorie in the Browser (Live 9) or in the Plug-In Device Browser (Live 8.4).

Performing plug-in bridging

In the window that is shown, the default setting "Bridge 32bit plugins" works well in most situations. If you only have a few VSTs and already know which of them are 32-bit and need to be bridged, you can select the option to choose some plug-ins only manually.

In the same window, now choose that you'll be using a 64-bit VST host.

After you've done this, the jBridgerM will start analyzing all VST plug-ins in your two system folders.

When this is finished, the jBridgerM tool will create a folder that contains all bridged plug-ins, as shown at the bottom of the window: /Users/[your_user_name]/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/PluginsBridgedFor64BitVSTHosts

Remember this path and quit jBridgerM.

Cleaning up

If you have manually chosen specific plug-ins only to be bridged, as mentioned above, you can skip this and proceed with making Live aware of the bridged plug-ins.

Otherwise, as the bridging process has scanned all available 32-bit plug-ins, you'll most likely see bridged versions of VST plug-ins that are also available as native 64-bit plug-ins. Since the bridged versions are unnecessary here, follow these steps to remove them:

Navigate to the folder /Users/[your_user_name]/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/PluginsBridgedFor64BitVSTHosts

Manually delete all .vst files from this folder that you know are installed as native 64-bit plug-ins.

Making Live aware of the bridged plug-ins

Finally, to make the bridged plug-ins appear in Live's Plug-In-Device browser: